16 Cattle Company

Chad and Kathy Knudsen, along with our sons, Colton and Clint, are the owners and operators of 16 Cattle Company.  As the legend goes, Grandad Knudsen first ran the 16 brand in Ganado, Texas in 1916 with 16 head of cattle.  And, as a 5th generation cattle family, we take pride in carrying on this steadfast tradition.  We manage a herd of 100+ head of beef in Erath, Sutton, and Williamson Counties.    

With many uncertainties in the beef industry, 16 Cattle Company  decided to expand our operations.  16 Cattle Company Beef  now offers beef sales direct to customers to help our fellow Texans by providing our Texas, pasture-raised beef for purchase.  Many family ranches have been saddled with trying to stay profitable in recent years while the big global corporations tighten their stranglehold on the beef industry.  We believe, it is vital to the backbone of America to keep these family ranches going.  Yet, these ranchers have been put out of business at record rates. The reason being, the United States only has 4 meat packing plants, (Cargill-a global commodity trader,  JBS-Brazil based company, Tyson Foods-chicken producers,  and National Beef Packing-another Brazilian company).  These companies process 85% of U.S. beef sold at markets and this monopoly gives them immense economic control.  The meat packing companies have a large impact on live cattle prices and the price of beef at the store.  In essence, they are both the buyers and sellers over a large percentage of the beef market.  This allows the meat packers to control the price paid to ranchers and the price paid by consumers. Today, ranchers (producers) just share 37% of the total beef sales in the U.S., which is down from 60% just 3 decades ago, and the 4 meat packing companies have seen a 400% increase in profit margins since 2015. That is why a few family ranches have started trying to take the middle man (meat packers) out of the equation which ensures a quality product that the consumer can have confidence in where it came from at a fair price.   With so much uncertainty in the origins of the beef sold at grocery stores in recent years and the stranglehold of the 4 major meat packers, we are offering 16 Cattle Company Beef as an alternative; Texas beef for Texas tables.